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<h1 id="title">EPOReferralQ3</h1>
<div dir="ltr" id="content" lang="en"><span class="anchor" id="top"></span>
<span class="anchor" id="line-1"></span><p class="line867"><a href="https://ffii.org/EPOReferral">EPO Referral main page</a> (page 9) <span class="anchor" id="line-2"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-3"></span><p class="line867">
<h1 id="A3.3._QUESTION_3_.28A.29_MUST_A_CLAIMED_FEATURE_CAUSE_A_TECHNICAL_EFFECT_ON_A_PHYSICAL_ENTITY_IN_THE_REAL_WORLD_IN_ORDER_TO_CONTRIBUTE_TO_THE_TECHNICAL_CHARACTER_OF_THE_CLAIM.3F">3.3. QUESTION 3 (A) MUST A CLAIMED FEATURE CAUSE A TECHNICAL EFFECT ON A PHYSICAL ENTITY IN THE REAL WORLD IN ORDER TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE TECHNICAL CHARACTER OF THE CLAIM?</h1>
<span class="anchor" id="line-4"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-5"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-6"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-7"></span><p class="line867">
<h1 id="A.28B.29_IF_.28A.29_IS_ANSWERED_IN_THE_POSITIVE.2C_IS_IT_SUFFICIENT_THAT_THE_PHYSICAL_ENTITY_BE_AN_UNSPECIFIED_COMPUTER.3F">(B) IF (A) IS ANSWERED IN THE POSITIVE, IS IT SUFFICIENT THAT THE PHYSICAL ENTITY BE AN UNSPECIFIED COMPUTER?</h1>
<span class="anchor" id="line-8"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-9"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-10"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-11"></span><p class="line867">
<h1 id="A.28C.29_IF_.28A.29_IS_ANSWERED_IN_THE_NEGATIVE.2C_CAN_FEATURES_CONTRIBUTE_TO_THE_TECHNICAL_CHARACTER_OF_THE_CLAIM_IF_THE_ONLY_EFFECTS_TO_WHICH_THEY_CONTRIBUTE_ARE_INDEPENDENT_OF_ANY_PARTICULAR_HARDWARE_THAT_MAY_BE_USED.3F">(C) IF (A) IS ANSWERED IN THE NEGATIVE, CAN FEATURES CONTRIBUTE TO THE TECHNICAL CHARACTER OF THE CLAIM IF THE ONLY EFFECTS TO WHICH THEY CONTRIBUTE ARE INDEPENDENT OF ANY PARTICULAR HARDWARE THAT MAY BE USED?</h1>
<span class="anchor" id="line-12"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-13"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-14"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-15"></span><p class="line867">
<h2 id="I_Background">I Background</h2>
<span class="anchor" id="line-16"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-17"></span><p class="line874">Regardless of the question whether exclusion under Art. 52(2) and (3) EPC can be <span class="anchor" id="line-18"></span>avoided simply by choosing an appropriate form of claim, it will always be necessary to <span class="anchor" id="line-19"></span>evaluate the effects caused by individual features or combinations of features to determine <span class="anchor" id="line-20"></span>whether they contribute to the technical character of a claim. Determining this contribution <span class="anchor" id="line-21"></span>is always relevant for evaluating the further requirements of the EPC (such as inventive <span class="anchor" id="line-22"></span>step). It is noted that no distinction is made here between those physical entities or <span class="anchor" id="line-23"></span>hardware that are inside a computer and those that are outside. <span class="anchor" id="line-24"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-25"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-26"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-27"></span><p class="line867">
<h2 id="II_The_diverging_decisions">II The diverging decisions</h2>
<span class="anchor" id="line-28"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-29"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-30"></span><p class="line874">Decision T 163/85 (10) was concerned with a claim directed at a television signal which <span class="anchor" id="line-31"></span>inherently comprised the technical features of the TV system. The Board considered that <span class="anchor" id="line-32"></span>the non-exhaustive list of exclusions under Art 52(2) and (3) EPC could be generalised to <span class="anchor" id="line-33"></span>subject-matter which is essentially abstract in nature, which is non-physical and therefore <span class="anchor" id="line-34"></span>not characterised by technical terms. The Board found that the signal as claimed was a <span class="anchor" id="line-35"></span>physical reality which could be directly detected by technological means, which therefore <span class="anchor" id="line-36"></span>was not an abstract entity. Also in T 190/94 (11), the claimed system was found to make a <span class="anchor" id="line-37"></span>contribution to the art in a field not excluded from patentability because the difference (of <span class="anchor" id="line-38"></span>the claimed subject-matter over the prior art) manifested itself in the real world in a <span class="anchor" id="line-39"></span>technical effect on a physical entity. <span class="anchor" id="line-40"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-41"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-42"></span><p class="line874">Decision T 424/03, which was concerned with the transfer of data on a computer via a <span class="anchor" id="line-43"></span>clipboard, considered the method itself to have technical character (i.e. not only because it <span class="anchor" id="line-44"></span>was claimed as a computer-implemented method). This was because functional data <span class="anchor" id="line-45"></span>structures were used independently of any cognitive content in order to enhance the <span class="anchor" id="line-46"></span>internal operation of a computer system with a view to facilitating the exchange of data <span class="anchor" id="line-47"></span>among various applicat¡on programs (Reasons, 5.2). According to claim 1 (Facts and <span class="anchor" id="line-48"></span>submissions, IV), these data structures (clipboard formats) are defined by their purpose <span class="anchor" id="line-49"></span>('text', 'file contents' and 'file group descriptor'). It is further specified that the selected data  <span class="anchor" id="line-50"></span>is converted into the file contents clipboard format and stored as a data object, and that <span class="anchor" id="line-51"></span>the 'file group descriptor clipboard format' is used to hold a file group descriptor holding <span class="anchor" id="line-52"></span>descriptive information about the data object. <span class="anchor" id="line-53"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-54"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-55"></span><p class="line874">Following a similar line to decision T 424/03, decision T 125/01 (12) concerned a control unit <span class="anchor" id="line-56"></span>for a telecommunications apparatus, e.g. a car radio, whereby the characterising portion of <span class="anchor" id="line-57"></span>the claim related to how the microprocessor operated in response to user input via <span class="anchor" id="line-58"></span>buttons. The features of the claim that were novel over the prior art consisted of the use of <span class="anchor" id="line-59"></span>a single table for permitted operating states, rather than a plurality of tables (Reasons, <span class="anchor" id="line-60"></span>3.3). The Board accepted that the corresponding problem, as cited in the patent at issue, <span class="anchor" id="line-61"></span>was the ease of modification and therefore flexible applicability of the control module. It <span class="anchor" id="line-62"></span>likened the situation to that of a hardware interface, for which a similar problem would <span class="anchor" id="line-63"></span>clearly be seen as technical. <span class="anchor" id="line-64"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-65"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-66"></span><p class="line874">10) T 163/85 - Colour television signal/B8C (OJ EPO 9/1990, 379)  <span class="anchor" id="line-67"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-68"></span><p class="line874">11) T 190/94 - No headword  <span class="anchor" id="line-69"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-70"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-71"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-72"></span><p class="line867">
<h2 id="III_The_divergence">III The divergence</h2>
<span class="anchor" id="line-73"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-74"></span><p class="line874">According to decisions T 163/85 and T 190/94, a technical effect on a physical entity in the <span class="anchor" id="line-75"></span>real world was required. This was however not the case in T 125/01 and T 424/03. In <span class="anchor" id="line-76"></span>these decisions the technical effects were essentially confined to the respective computer <span class="anchor" id="line-77"></span>programs. <span class="anchor" id="line-78"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-79"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-80"></span><p class="line874">For T 125/01 this consisted of writing a program in such a way - via the choice of single or <span class="anchor" id="line-81"></span>multiple tables - that it can be easily extended. This did not affect the modification of the <span class="anchor" id="line-82"></span>hardware (a physical entity), but merely simplified the process of (re)programming the <span class="anchor" id="line-83"></span>control module to adapt the program to work with the modified hardware. <span class="anchor" id="line-84"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-85"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-86"></span><p class="line874">In T 424/03, the various clipboard formats which were seen as functional data structures <span class="anchor" id="line-87"></span>bore no relation to any technical features of the system in which they were used. The <span class="anchor" id="line-88"></span>effect of simplifying data transfer between or within applications is also an effect <span class="anchor" id="line-89"></span>independent of the hardware used. <span class="anchor" id="line-90"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-91"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-92"></span><p class="line874">In the case of features related to computer programs whose effects are confined to the <span class="anchor" id="line-93"></span>internal working of the computer, there is uncertainty about where the line is to be drawn <span class="anchor" id="line-94"></span>between technical effects and effects lying solely in the field of programs for computers, in <span class="anchor" id="line-95"></span>particular if the aspects relating to programming are claimed in any detail. <span class="anchor" id="line-96"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-97"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-98"></span><p class="line874">Following the reasoning of the latter decisions, it would appear that an inventive step could <span class="anchor" id="line-99"></span>be based on a programmer's choice of elementary programming constructs (tables, loops, <span class="anchor" id="line-100"></span>subroutines, objects) which solely serve the efficient execution of the program or indeed <span class="anchor" id="line-101"></span>simplify the programmer's work (e.g. using a subroutine rather than repeating lines of <span class="anchor" id="line-102"></span>code). It is therefore difficult to contemplate which aspects or effects of a computer program  <span class="anchor" id="line-103"></span>could fall within the exclusion.  <span class="anchor" id="line-104"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-105"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-106"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-107"></span><p class="line874">12) T 125/01 - Gerätesteuerung/HENZE _ <span class="anchor" id="line-108"></span><span class="anchor" id="bottom"></span></div><p id="pageinfo" class="info" lang="en" dir="ltr">EPOReferralQ3  (last edited 2009-08-15 23:47:17 by <span title="??? @ localhost[127.0.0.1]">localhost</span>)</p>

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